Contact and Compromise
by xFyR3x
Summary: The Swiss Headquarters incident. It wasn't just a catastrophe. It was a bridge. When two vastly different worlds integrate into one, peace begins to reign. But it is hardly that simple. Join the crew of Overwatch in a significant milestone of their history together with the Pokemon world.
1. Contact

**Introduction**

The Overwatch Swiss headquarters was running an experiment. An experiment gone wrong. An explosion occurred, destroying the facility and fatally injuring Gabriel Reyes. What remained of the facility was a portal hanging in the air. One that was created there, and one that they had tried to contain. A strange creature stepped out of the portal. A yellow mouse, with red cheeks and a zigzag of a tail.

2 years later, Overwatch had been able to use technology from this other world to sew their very own back together. The portal was closed, technology bloomed, healthcare became free. The creatures from the other dimension, termed "Pokemon", become the third dominant species in the world of Overwatch, coexisting harmoniously with humans and omnics alike.

A competition was about to begin. One that brought together the best trainers around the world and pit them against each other, competing for the ultimate prize, the megalith - one of the artifacts retrieved from the depths of the portal, and perhaps the key to great strength. 16 competitors, 1 will win. Overwatch had regained the world's trust, but historically important events rarely go so smoothly.

 **Author's note: Heyo, I'm Fyre, and this is my very first fanfic. I really do hope you're excited for this, and that you will enjoy reading my story as much as I enjoy writing it. The story ideas aren't based on much except the original games and the ideas that sprung right out of my head one day, and it's gonna be very action-based and the development of the story may be a little slow.**

 **Publishing speed varies, and there may be a few spelling mistakes, but please do review and give me suggestions. Worry not, there will be no shipping of any characters. Hope the introduction got you interested, enjoy!**


	2. Roadhog VS Pharah

**Roadhog vs Pharah**

There wasn't much headway being made on both sides. Snorlax had set up so much that it could hardly move, while skarmory just finished spraying its final layer of spikes. Roadhog knew what Pharah's next move will be.

"Whirlwind…"

"Get em good snorlax! Fire punch!"

Snorlax easily brushed past the stealth rocks and spikes scattered all around the arena, taking advantage of skarmory's command to use whirlwind. With its fist aflame and a gigantic boost to its attack from all those turns of curse, its fist melted right through skarmory's defenses, grounding it in a deafening blow.

What roadhog failed to consider, was skarmory's ability, sturdy. Gingerly, the armor bird pokemon got back into the air, and unleashed a powerful gust of wind, blasting snorlax back into its pokeball. Roadhog grunted, quite clearly frustrated. He wasn't messing around now. Sending swampert out of its pokeball, roadhog pulled out his hook, with a key stone embedded at the base of one of its barbs.

"Grill em like bacon, swampert! Mega Evolve!"

The swampertite on swampert's collar glowed with a blinding light, the beams connecting to the key stone in roadhog's hook. The crowd watched in amazement as swampert's arms swelled and grew, its fins growing outwards and feet bracing apart. With a roar, mega swampert surrounded itself with water and crashed headfirst into skarmory, earning roadhog the first point of the match. From the competitors' seats, Roadhog could hear Junkrat cheering him on. If the other 2 of pharah's pokemon were this easy to defeat, roadhog knew he was in for an easy victory.

Pharah wasn't one to pull her most powerful pokemon to lead. Stroking the pokeball that held her trump card, she instead sent out her second pokemon.

"Go, Toucannon!"

The newest addition to her team squawked as it landed on its feet and tail, while roadhog quite rudely let out a long chuckle. Anyone who underestimated the final evolution of the more common bird pokemon of any region was to receive a nasty surprise. With roadhog's ignorance of more recent discoveries, pharah might just be able to take his swampert down.

"Swampert, ice punch!"

Pharah ordered toucannon to wait. She knew an outright assault on a mega evolved pokemon as bulky as swampert would be significantly less effective. Instead, as swampert lumbered closer on all fours, rearing up with its fist of cold, blue ice, ready to deliver the finishing blow…

"Now, toucannon! Bullet seed!"

Toucannon's beak, almost completely red from those few moments of heating up, burst open and blasted countless seeds at swampert's exposed belly. The attack took the mud fish pokemon by surprise, knocking it back. But swampert managed to dig one of its clawed arms into the ground, and with roadhog's command of earthquake, caused it to dig in further and anchor itself, while forcing toucannon to fly and continue its assault from another angle.

Pharah began to grow worried. As much as toucannon's ability, skill link, improved the power of bullet seed, she feared that toucannon could not keep up the barrage of seeds for long enough to take swampert down. Furthermore, swampert was lying prone on the ground, its heavily scaled back taking most of the damage. After a few more butt-clenching moments, toucannon finally ended its assault, as swampert carefully uncurled itself.

"Almost got it, toucannon! Use return!"

With a sparkle in its eyes, toucannon channelled all its strength in a full-body tackle, expecting to take swampert out. Instead, it found itself slamming into the blazing hot body of an emboar that roadhog just commanded to switch in. Despite the small window of reaction time, emboar grabbed toucannon by the beak before any follow-up could be made and slammed it to the ground with its fist aflame.

Seeing toucannon momentarily incapacitated on the ground, roadhog gave a long, hearty laugh that was cut short by a coughing fit.

"Heh, good punch emboar. Finish it with wild charge!"

Emboar's arms crackled with electricity. Jumping into the air, it landed a devastating elbow drop on toucannon, sending out a huge cloud of dust and leaving a massive crater. The dust cleared, and toucannon was left on the ground, terribly injured and unable to battle, earning roadhog another point. Without any other choice, roadhog's opponent sent out her last pokemon, a salamence. The dragon pokemon growled, sending a chill down both roadhog and emboar's spines. Noticing the collar and stone set on salamence's neck. Roadhog knew his team was in trouble.

Pharah raised her gauntleted hand. The key stone set where her usual concussion rockets rested glowed in sync with her salamence's salamencite, enveloping it in a white-blue light. It was always a spectacle to see a mega evolution, but roadhog's fear steadily grew as salamence's wings grew longer and sharper, its horns elongating and becoming ridged and its tail lengthened and snapping around like a whip.

He knew that these creatures were more savage than anything else. He knew that their wings could slice through anything while it was mid-flight. He knew that they were reported to have brutally attacked their very own trainers.

"Emboar, I need ya to trust me. You blokes are in a bit of a pickle, so you gotta hit that wanker as hard as you can so your mates can finish the job. Gottit?"

Emboar went for another wild charge, but to its surprise, salamence barely flinched. The dragon eyed emboar with bloodlust as it dodged emboar's electrically charged follow-ups in a series of frantic movements, seemingly circling menacingly around emboar. The boosts to its attack and speed were quite obvious. With a deafening roar, salamence flew out of emboar's reach and plummeted down at it at full force.

"Quick, emboar! Sucker punch!"

Just as salamence's return was about to connect, emboar delivered a sucker punch square to its face, causing salamence to veer wildly off course. However, the tip of its wing snared the tufts of fur on emboar's ample body, and with a hard twist sent it slamming into the walls of the arena. Just as emboar stood up, salamence crashed wing-first into the mega fire pig pokemon, knocking it out instantly with hardly a scratch on its newgrown armor and earning pharah her first point.

Pharah looked at salamence with satisfaction. It was the very first pokemon provided by helix security and she had trained it into a merciless fighting machine. Salamence then gave an otherworldly shriek of content, causing the spectating crowd to cover their ears. She knew that her opponent could only try to stop a creature so powerful, so terrifying. Once again, she saw roadhog's snorlax back in the arena. Skarmory's work, however, did pay off. The spikes and pointed stones dug deep into snorlax's fat frame, earning a little wince.

"It's weakened, salamence! Use return!"

Very obediently, for a pokemon with such a bad reputation, salamence accelerated head-first into the sleeping pokemon. Its attempt at body slam was immediately nullified with a sharp, scaled draconic head connecting with its belly, and slamming it into a nearby artificial hill, cracking the structure significantly and throwing up a cloud of dust. However, snorlax still emerged, albeit heavily injured, and attempted to finish its assault.

The ground rumbled. Both trainers looked at their surroundings and saw a barrage of loosened rocks plummeting down the hill towards their pokemon. Snorlax didn't worry. Connecting a body slam on salamence's tail, it smiled back at its ridiculously overweight trainer, satisfied that it was able to weaken Pharah's trump card, hopefully enough for swampert to take it down. Salamence, on the other hand, had to make it out alive. Using its boosted speed, it expertly weaved its way out of the rockfall, only for a large boulder to fall on its left wing, injuring it severely. With a roar of pain, it landed awkwardly, fortunately clear of the rock slide.

Pharah rushed to salamence, only for it to brush her away with a growl and take off once again, wounds all over its body. Roadhog sent swampert back out, the stealth rocks and spikes taking its toll on the already injured mud fish pokemon. Both mega evolved pokemon were terribly injured. It came down to this final assault.

"Return!"

"Ice punch!"

Having the speed advantage, salamence effortlessly grabbed swampert mid-flight in the curve of its wing, bringing it high into the sky looking for a ledge to slam its opponent into and end the battle. Unexpectedly, salamence was unable to suppress the pain of its injured left wing, causing its grip on swampert to slip. Taking advantage of this, swampert grabbed hard on salamence's wing with an icy fist, the sudden cold causing salamence to lose flying capability altogether as the two pokemon plummeted towards the earth.

The ground shook. The dust cleared.

Swampert stood gingerly out of the crater, leaving salamence's unconscious body in the dust.

Junkrat was the first to let out a loud "woo!" The rest of the spectators were still reeling at how a backwards criminal was able to defeat helix security's finest.

After a while, a clap. Then another. Until the whole stadium erupted in applause. Pharah recalled salamence into its pokeball, shook roadhog's hand, saying, "well played, I can see what you and your pokemon have been through." Pharah left the arena, returning to her seat among the competitors.

Up high, in the champion's chamber, Gabriel Reyes chuckled.

"See, Jack? I told you even criminals got potential. Just look at what I did with Mccree…"

"Listen, Gabe, we're here to be Elite Four members, not to get ourselves new disciples. We've got jobs to do."

Ana Amari sighed. "Except you're champion, Jack. You can go running laps whenever you'd like, just returning occasionally to deal with those strong enough to get past all of us. Meanwhile, I have to babysit the rest of you…"

"I ain't got no need for that! My babies can handle themselves, and they can get me lunch too, mind you," Torbjorn huffed.

"Don't insult Ana's cooking. Besides, we're here as a team! To see what this new young generation is capable of! Surely you are paying great attention to all these wonderful battles! I'm all about them!"

Reinhardt's cheery attitude and love for battles always got the team back on track. Gabe let out a rare laugh.

"Yeah, we're all about it… I'd be excited for tomorrow's battle if I were you…"

 ***A few hours later***

Amelie polished her pokeballs as she prepared to go to bed. Tomorrow was a big day for her. The day that would put her on the road to power. Fame. Her phone suddenly rang. Picking it up, the deep voice of her superior came through.

"I suppose you are very familiar with our strategy. Don't fail in battle. And speak nothing of your affiliation. There will be consequences if we are forced to execute plan B…"

"Understood. Bonne nuit."

She looked one last time at her gauntlet before shutting her eyes. The image of her key stone lingered in her mind. She would do this. She would not fail. For Talon.

 **Author's note: Hey guys, it's Fyre again, hope you are enjoying the very first match of the tourney! I kinda had to decide the outcome of the first match, and I already have those of the remaining matches and the competitors' Pokemon all planned out, so I'm sorry if it isn't the ideal tournament matchup you would have in your mind :3**

 **I will accept really good plot suggestions however, so please do comment! Upload interval will be about 1-2 weeks per chapter. As usual, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	3. Tracer VS Widowmaker

**Author's note: Hey guys, it's Fyre, I've had part of this chapter written beforehand, so I decided to push it out a little earlier. I felt that the last chapter had too little detail on the procedure of the battle, so I'll be focusing more on that this chapter. Yes, that does mean longer chapters and yes, that also means rate of publish is gonna go down (but it'll stay within 2 weeks). That out of the way, have fun and enjoy the chapter!**

 **Tracer vs Widowmaker**

A new day, a new match. The crowd stopped cheering as Athena's logo appeared on the large screens all over the arena, which had been changed into a desert oasis.

"Now, we shall commence the second preliminary round. Competitors, Tracer and Widowmaker, please step forth."

The short, spunky Overwatch agent waved to the crowd, tossing her pokeball in one hand. In the other side of the arena, the ex-talon agent blew a kiss to the crowd, earning many oohs and aahs.

The elite four and champion looked from above at the two new competitors, chuckling in remembrance of their mission to recover Amelie from Talon's grasp 6 months ago. Tracer had played a critical role in the operation, making it all the more ironic that they would be putting all they had against each other once more.

"Looks like we're at each other again, Ame. Good luck, love!"

Amelie smiled at her. "Best of luck to you as well, _mon cherie_."

Athena's voice rang out once again.

"Competitors, send out your first pokemon."

"Go Raichu, I believe in you love!"

"Take us to victory, drapion."

The two pokemon circled round each other, as if looking for a weakness. Drapion had no problem traversing the sandy terrain, while raichu's amazing speed was hampered by the shifting sands.

Gabriel smiled. Amelie's current advantage could just snowball into enough momentum to win her the match.

"BEGIN!"

Tracer, rash as she usually was, made the first move.

"Raichu, thunderbolt! Aim for the eyes!"

Raichu's body pulsed with electricity, sending a beam of it crashing towards drapion. But quite ingeniously, Amelie ordered it to use knock off on the ground, spraying up a cloud of sand. The thunderbolt connected with it and was conducted into the earth, leaving drapion without a scratch.

"Damn! Alright raichu, move towards the oasis, it's harder for her to deflect your attacks there."

Raichu edged closer to the oasis as the dust cloud cleared. Strangely, drapion was nowhere to be seen. Raichu began charging itself, ready to blast its opponent as soon as it showed its ugly pair of mandibles. But without warning, the ground beneath raichu erupted and an ivory-white pincer grabbed raichu. Drapion's entire body appeared from the sands as it slammed raichu into the oasis, soaking itself with a huge wave of water.

Reinhardt let out a hearty laugh. "Excellent!"

Amelie smiled. Her superiors had told her long before that her arena would be a desert. Replacing the common earthquake with dig turned out to be an excellent choice, the sand stifling the sound of a burrowing pokemon until it was too late.

"Now, drapion, impart your gift."

In understanding, drapion coated both its pincers with toxin, and sprayed them into the oasis. However, before the toxin could completely cloud the oasis, raichu suddenly sprang from the water, thunderbolt at the ready.

"Dodge it, drapion!"

Drapion lunged to the side, only for the strengthened thunderbolt to land on its long, segmented tail. Drapion roared in pain, the water droplets from the earlier splash retaining their charge and stinging it continuously like a thousand sword cuts.

"Retaliate with knock off!"

Eyes burning with venom, drapion sprung around, grabbing raichu by the neck. Reminding itself not to make the same mistake, it slammed raichu onto a neighbouring rock instead, following up with a jab with a pincer coated with venom.

"Job well done with the girl, I'd say," Torbjorn nudged Gabriel with a wide grin on his face.

Tracer was shocked. "Get outta there, love!"

Wincing, raichu gathered its energy and released a focus blast point-blank into drapion's pincer. Recoiling from the direct hit, drapion disengaged from raichu, allowing the latter to bound back to the oasis, heavily injured. Tracer rushed to her pokemon, only to find a purple-black bruise spreading from where drapion had used poison jab.

"Oh, gosh this is bad."

By then, drapion's toxins had also tainted the oasis, restricting the use of its water to boost raichu's electric type moves. Raichu didn't have long left. Standing back up with the remainder of its strength, Raichu issued a cry of challenge at drapion. The ogre scorpion pokemon, no less injured, replied defiantly.

"Relax, drapion, take aim…"

Drapion calmed itself, and waited for raichu to make its attack. It made out raichu's line of fire, possible manoeuvres, and finally, most tantalizingly, the best way to take it down…

"Thunderbolt!"

Rushing headfirst towards the bolt of electricity, drapion dragged its venom-coated pincer along the sand. The spectating crowd grew restless, confused by Amelie's course of action. Just before the move connected, drapion veered to the side, using its now sand coated claw and velocity to deflect the thunderbolt right back at raichu.

Tracer almost laughed out loud. With its ability, lightning rod, the reflected thunderbolt was absorbed square into raichu's tail, giving it an immense reserve of electrical energy. Unable to contain this, raichu's eyes glowed a blazing white as it discharged the excess energy all around it in a devastating, blinding 360 degree blast.

Rubbing her eyes, Tracer surveyed the arena. There was no standing drapion in sight, yet she had not been awarded her point yet.

"Wait, why-"

The ground beneath raichu erupted once again, as drapion emerged and crushed the mouse pokemon with its pincer, holding its unconscious body up in the air like a trophy.

"Raichu is unable to battle, Widowmaker gains a point."

Amelie smiled at Tracer. "I sense strength within your raichu. Better luck next time."

Tracer smiled back, nothing could deter the cheerful, young Brit.

"It's alright, Ame. Let's keep going! You're up next staraptor!"

The predator pokemon emerged from its pokeball with a squawk, shifting its fringe upwards as it landed, much like its trainer.

"Oh drapion, this won't do… come back!"

Before drapion could switch out, however, it was intercepted.

"Finish it, star! Pursuit!"

Staraptor landed square on drapion's back and with its powerful talons, threw drapion into the tainted oasis. The ogre scorpion pokemon did not re-emerge.

"Drapion is unable to battle. Tracer gains a point."

"She taught the scorpion to snipe. Not bad. I was impressed with her overloading raichu to give herself cover to land a good dig." Ana mused to herself as Amelie recalled Drapion back to its pokeball.

It was a tough choice for Amelie. One of her remaining pokemon would hampered by the terrain, while the other suffered a severe type disadvantage.

"I choose you, galvantula!"

The elespider pokemon landed awkwardly on the sandy terrain, before coating its 6 legs with sticky thread that somewhat firmed up its steps.

"Aww, that's adorable! Staraptor, brave bird"

With a screech, staraptor flew in close to the ground, on a collision course with its opponent. However, galvantula was swift, sidestepping neatly as staraptor flew past it.

"Now galvantula, thunder wave!"

A net of electricity appeared between galvantula's pedipalps, and was flung towards the airborne staraptor. By the time the predator pokemon turned around, it was too late. The net dissolved into a crippling jolt of electricity, paralyzing it.

"Drat! Stay out of its field of view staraptor!"

The predator pokemon, despite being afflicted with paralysis, flew in a semicircle to face galvantula's unprotected back. As it swooped in for another brave bird, little did it know that galvantula's 6 compound eyes had noticed it mid flight. The many reflections gathered into one and…

"Thunder!"

Galvantula leaped into the air as thunderclouds darkened the sky, barely clearing staraptor as it flew past inches below. A bolt of lightning struck galvantula, charging it as it took aim at the predator pokemon's vulnerable back.

"Move, staraptor! Get to cover at the oasis!"

Electric blasts burst from galvantula's six legs, seeking staraptor like jagged barbs. The predator pokemon dodged and weaved, some of the thunderbolts missing it narrowly and scorching the trees at the oasis. One bolt from above flashed right before its eyes, and staraptor crash landed in the sand close by, temporarily stunned. The bolt missed it, fortunately, and crashed into the oasis, seemingly clearing the water of toxin.

"It's weakened, galvantula, use bug buzz!"

Still levitating in the air, galvantula vibrated its many legs together, producing sound waves of unbearable frequency, causing the crowd to cover their ears. It didn't seem to hurt staraptor physically, but the predator pokemon had its eyes squeezed shut, screeching in pain.

Gabriel chuckled. "Insult to injury. Just like when you kicked me out of that strike team and put me in charge of blackwatch, eh, Jack?"

"Don't mull over that now, Gabe. We're all in the same team now. Except one of us has to be champion…"

Back down in the arena, staraptor was incapacitated, stumbling delusionally on the ground. Amelie knew that it was finished.

"Thunder, again!"

Galvantula's body flared up once more, and a bolt of lightning raced towards staraptor.

"Move, star, you can't let up now!"

Staraptor barely heard it's trainer's voice over its ringing ears, but with the last of its strength, heaved itself into the oasis. The thunderbolt missed, striking the sand instead. A web of electricity spread out over the oasis, and a few bubbles emerged, then all was still. Galvantula discharged itself, returning to the ground.

Very suddenly, staraptor burst from the oasis, and with flaps of its wings dried itself while soaking galvantula with water. Caught off guard, the sticky silk coating galvantula's claws dissolved, causing it to lose its footing once more. Taking advantage of this, staraptor went for one final brave bird, pinning galvantula into the arena wall, cratering it and sending up a shower of rocks.

Neither pokemon made it out.

"Staraptor and galvantula are unable to battle. Both competitors gain a point."

"Down to you, manectric!"

"Victory is within our grasp, I can feel it. Go, heracross!"

Jack looked on with interest. "This is going to be interesting."

"Mega evolve!"

A blinding flash of light, and mega manectric and mega heracross held a standoff in the sand. Manectric growled menacingly, earning a little flinch from heracross. The bulky single horn pokemon stood firm in the sand, ready for what manectric had to throw against it.

"Manectric, thunderbolt!"

A bolt of lightning raced towards heracross, but instead of dodging it, Amelie ordered a rock blast. Shattering a rock outcrop from the oasis, heracross sent many vicious shards of stone to meet the thunderbolt mid-air. The remaining shards caused manectric to dodge to the side, it's feet shifting in the sands.

"Heracross, pin missile!"

Holding its ground at the oasis, heracross took aim at manectric. The shells on its hands burst open, releasing a swarm of spiny projectiles. Manectric frantically dodged the barrage of spines, ducking for cover at the other end of the oasis.

"Flamethrower, manectric! Go for the plants!"

Bursts of flame erupted from manectric's mouth, destroying the foliage that heracross was using for cover. Over time, heracross' side of the oasis was getting more and more barren as the fire took hold and spread, forcing Amelie to order it to get closer to the water.

"Bullet seed!"

The shells on heracross' arms burst open again, this time blasting heated seeds at high velocity at manectric's turf. Some of the seeds shredded the foliage and lay steaming on the ground, while others went wide, splashing into the lake.

Looking at the smoking seeds, and then at those in the water, fizzling out and losing their speed, Tracer had an idea.

"Occupy the lake, manectric! He can't get you there!"

Blasting a thunderbolt into the lake, manectric pounced into the charged water, advancing on heracross and forcing it to step away. A flamethrower was met with rock blast, then a thunderbolt with bullet seed. Heracross was trapped between manectric's line of fire and a small bush of almost completely ablaze greenery.

"You're tired, heracross. Salvage some sap from that tree trunk."

Uprooting the only tree remaining in the bush, slightly scorched at the ends, heracross drank heartily on the rich, green sap. Out of the corner of its eye it spotted an incoming thunderbolt, and used the trunk to deflect the attack.

"Destroy the trunk, manectric! Flamethrower!"

Having drained the trunk of sap, heracross threw the trunk at the burst of flame, following up with a rock blast. The flames could not take hold, and the shards of rock and bark rained down on the lake.

Manectric tensed, preparing to dash out of the way. But as it scrambled, something tugged on its limbs. The something turned out to be multiple little tendrils that had sprouted from the sunken seeds at the bottom of the lake. Manectric could do nothing but take the attack.

"How did'e do that?"

"The sap, Torbjorn. Remember the stray seeds that she blasted into the water a while ago? Those couldn't have been salvaged from this arena. My guess is that Amelie pre-loaded heracross, and with the energy gained from the sap allowed the seeds to grow and entangle manectric," Gabriel explained.

"Smart. Stealthy. Precise. I guess that part of talon stayed with her."

"I suppose so, Jack."

When the hail of wood and stone was over, manectric opened its eyes to heracross jumping onto it from above, ready to land a crushing close combat.

"Quick, manectric, flamethrower!"

Heracross tackled manectric under the surface, only to be blasted away with a point-blank flamethrower and thrown onto the shore. The flames took hold suddenly despite heracross' soaked carapace, burning it. Severely incapacitated, Tracer knew that this was her chance to finish it.

"Manectric, use thunderbolt to clear the vines."

Manectric, exhausted and injured, freed itself and stumbled onto land.

"Now, end it with flamethrower…?"

Only then did Tracer realize the purple sheen across manectric's face. The flames in its mouth died, and the discharge pokemon collapsed on the sand, unconscious.

"Wha…? The lake was still poisoned?"

"Yes, _mon cherie_. Drapion's poisons are complex, they cannot be easily destroyed by electrolysis."

"Manectric is unable to battle. Widowmaker gains the final point and wins the match."

Applause. Tracer laughed, extending a hand. "Well played, love!"

Amelie shook it firmly. "You too. Better luck next time, I suppose. Come, heracross. You did well today."

The single horn pokemon returned to its pokeball, and the two competitors proceeded to have their partners healed, before returning to their seats.

"That was amazing! The terrain, the trickery, the brute strength at the end, oh I feel like a new man again watching that battle!"

The elite four and champion discussed every battle in their own chamber. The heated one that day was no exception. They were all keen to see what Amelie could hold against one of Overwatch's finest agents, only to have Tracer beaten by a woman that she had rescued.

After signing a few autographs and battling a few challengers, they returned to their living quarters.

 ***A few hours later***

Amelie polished heracross' arms with a cloth. Just as she picked up a case of seeds to load into her pokemon, her phone rang. It was her superior again.

"You made risky decisions out there today. Should have used pin missile to finish manectric off. But you won nevertheless. Well done, I suppose. Rest well. Your quarter-final is in 7 days, not counting today. Your arena, steep cliffs. A bit of snow, maybe rockfalls. Be prepared."

"Understood. _Bonne nuit._ "


	4. Hanzo VS DVa

**DVa vs Hanzo**

Numbani was more crowded than usual. Despite unity day being 2 weeks away, the preparations were already in full swing, with the current tournament not easing the crowd either, which Overwatch had taken temporary ownership of a hotel and stadium to facilitate.

There was a commotion going on around the entrance of the hotel. Hanzo Shimada was a few meters ahead, making his way towards the stadium, but he could not help but take a look.

A small korean girl in a pink bunny-themed jacket was flanked by a pair of burly bodyguards, signing a few autographs as she made her way out of the gate. The name was emblazened on the sleeve.

"Hmmph, paparazzi. Looks like I'll be facing the streamer today."

As if DVa could read his thoughts, she shot Hanzo a glance. The Japanese archer looked away and continued walking.

 ***Half an hour later***

The stadium was packed more than usual. DVa fans were everywhere, raising banners and flags to cheer their idol on. It didn't bother Hanzo one bit.

DVa walked into the arena, giving the crowd a finger-bang and a peace sign, earning a loud cheer from the spectators.

Hanzo looked to the competitor's seats, and saw his brother giving him a thumbs-up. Hanzo smiled.

"Competitors, send out your first pokemon."

"I choose you, Decidueye."

"Go, wishiwashi!"

Hanzo's decidueye pulled its leafy hood over its head, cooing with understanding. Wishiwashi leapt into a stream, raising its head above the water. The arena had changed to a dense woodland bisected by a wide river.

"Fight together, wishi! School form!"

The river bubbled as shadows danced beneath the surface. Wishiwashi's eyes glowed, and more of its kind threw themselves at it, forming a growing mass that elongated, sprouting pronged fins as it began to levitate. A heartbeat later, the small fry pokemon had turned into a monstrous fish, setting its sights on decidueye.

From up in the champion's chamber, Reinhardt looked closely. "Oh yes, now this will be a good fight."

"Go wishi! Ice beam!"

A ball of energy formed in wishiwashi's collective mouth, and a beam of blue light shot out, causing decidueye to take to the air. The beam hit a tree behind it, freezing it solid.

"Aim for the eyes, decidueye! Spirit shackle!"

Quick as a wink, decidueye plucked a quill and fired it while airborne. Wishiwashi saw this, and the mass of fish shifted, forming a hole where the eye once was to allow the arrow to sail right through, thudding into the river.

"Leaf blade, quick!"

Before wishiwashi could reform its eye, decidueye plummeted down, blades of leaves jutting from slots in its wings. It made a few solid slashes, causing unconscious individual wishiwashies to fall from the school and back into the river. Wishiwashi retaliated as soon as it could, landing a point-blank hydro pump that blasted decidueye away.

"It can't leave the stream! Spirit shackle, again!"

Drying itself, decidueye plucked another quill and fired it at wishiwashi's other eye, dodging an ice beam that froze another tree. The arrow hit home this time, but with the assistance of wishiwashi's schoolmates, was plucked out and dropped into the water. The injured wishiwashi moved to the centre of the school, allowing another of its kind to take its place.

Ana was impressed. "He's a good shot, Reinhardt, isn't he?"

"Ice beam!"

Another beam of ice shot from wishiwashi's mouth, this time persisting and chasing decidueye though the trees, and eventually the sky. Decidueye suddenly dropped, and fired another spirit shackle, the quill lodging itself in wishiwashi's mouth. Its ice beam ceased, and decidueye hit the ground with a combat roll.

"Keep shooting, decidueye!"

The arrow quill pokemon shot another spirit shackle, lodging into wishiwashi's tail. The small fry pokemon roared collectively, as the arrows dropped from its body and another ice beam was launched. Decidueye feigned left, then ran right, where less trees were frozen, nailing another spirit shackle in wishiwashi's flank. The beam eventually caught up to it, stopping short of freezing its tail feathers.

"Ugh, it's too fast, wishi! Use earthquake!"

Wishiwashi pounded the ground with its tail, causing the arena to shake. The frozen trees snapped at the roots, toppling down all around decidueye, who was flying at terribly low altitude avoiding this deadly obstacle course. The DVa fans cheered her on, hoping for a critical strike on decidueye.

Via his visor, Jack looked at the battle in infrared view. He could see decidueye's figure dodging left and right, stopping erratically here and there, looking for an opening. It was getting trapped.

However, the arrow quill pokemon made it out of the collapsing foliage and sped straight towards wishiwashi, two quills and leaf blades at the ready on each wing.

"Brave bird!"

Decidueye fired the arrows, and slashed right through the school with its velocity. Dozens of unconscious wishiwashi, quills or leaf shards in their flanks, fell from the school and into the water. The school reformed with its remaining individuals, now facing the arrow quill pokemon flying away from it. With one precise ice beam, the school shot decidueye out of the sky.

Hanzo ran to his pokemon's side, surveying the damage. Fortunately, the arrow quill pokemon had not been frozen, and it stood up gingerly. The arena had significantly less trees left to use for cover, and spirit shackle was running out of PP, so Hanzo knew this was the time to go all out.

"Trust your feelings decidueye, I need you to hit both its eyes, with your last two arrows."

Decidueye squawked, drawing its bowstring with its last two spirit shackles. A ball of icy energy collected in the smaller school of small fry pokemon, taking aim at decidueye.

Decidueye closed it eyes. It released the quills.

A pair of thuds and a shriek of pain.

Amelie gasped from the crowd, her hand flying to her mouth. "Excellent shot…"

Hanzo smiled proudly at his pokemon. Now was his only chance, as the school of wishiwashi squirmed, blinded. He raised his ungloved hand, revealing a z-ring. Tapping on the insignia, he commanded decidueye.

"Release your full strength, decidueye! Sinister Arrow Raid!"

With a ghost of a smile, decidueye took to the air. What had been an empty quiver seconds ago now brimmed with arrows, flaring out in a ring around decidueye. The sunken quills in the river glowed, from a point of view as high as the champion's chamber, the Elite Four and Champion saw that it spelled out a letter Z.

"This is new," Gabriel stated flatly.

Decidueye want into a nosedive, its arrows following closely behind. Wishiwashi's vision came back just in time to see all its comrades pinned by quills, as decidueye descended straight onto the heart of the school. Extending a leaf blade from its hand, it made one swift, decisive chop at the original wishiwashi.

The school dissolved. Wishiwashi was recalled to its pokeball, as the spectators let out a loud "Aww…", disappointed.

"Wishiwashi is unable to battle. Hanzo gets a point."

"You've trained them well. I'm surprised how they managed to get past Numbani's sewage systems and join your wishiwashi in battle."

"No time for small talk, dragon guy, I've got a battle to win! Go, lopunny!"

Without any delay, DVa sent out the rabbit pokemon, earning another cheer from the crowd. DVa held aloft a console controller with a key stone set in it.

"Lopunny, Mega Evolve!"

Energy coursed from the key stone and lopunnite, and lopunny's figure became surrounded in harsh light. The crowd went wild as lopunny's ears became longer and segmented, its arms growing outwards and its legs becoming more fluffed at the end. Upon its transformation, mega lopunny performed a showboat, beckoning decidueye to attack. Hanzo, however, was not impressed.

"Do your fans ever consider their obsession with you? Decidueye, leaf blade!"

The arrow quill pokemon sprung into the air, landing on lopunny with leaf blades in both its wings. The rabbit pokemon parried with ice punch, retaliating hard and fast. Its ability, scrappy, allowed it to bypass decidueye's ghostly guard, forcing the arrow quill pokemon to produce more leaf blades to protect itself.

Genji watched from the competitor's seats, the green leaf blades reminding him of his own katana. He studied decidueye's form as it blocked lopunny's punches, and slashed with its own blades, its cloak billowing menacingly behind it.

Lopunny avoided a vertical slash, and just as decidueye's other leaf blade came in for a horizontal one, lopunny ducked, grabbing decidueye's wing with an icy fist as the blade wooshed past. The battle quickly turned, as lopunny followed up by breaking decidueye's wing and punching it square in the face.

Torbjorn looked away momentarily. "That'd hurt for sure!"

"Finish it, lopunny! High jump kick!"

Lopunny threw the incapacitated decidueye to the ground, jumping high in the air. The arrow quill pokemon could do nothing as a kick connected with its head, causing a shock wave and a crater in the ground, knocking it out cold. The crowd erupted into applause.

"Decidueye is unable to battle. DVa gets a point."

"Still confident of your chances of winning, dragon guy?"

"So much so that I'll reduce it for the sake of entertainment. Go, charizard!"

The flame pokemon landed on the ground, the Charizardite X gleaming in the collar around its neck. Hanzo raised his Z-ring once more, sliding the insignia back to reveal a key stone.

"Charizard, mega evolve!"

Charizard roared as its flames turned blue from the energy influx, spilling out on its cheeks, its wings spreading outwards and growing more pointed. Reinhardt watched the transformation with nostalgia, remembering the trainer with a similar Charizard he had met on a mission across the rift a year ago.

"Fight with honor, Charizard. Dragon claw!"

Blue flames flickered around charizard's wrists, solidifying into sharp, jagged claws. The flame pokemon advanced on lopunny from the air, making it retreat towards the remaining trees. Lopunny parried charizard's slashes with its arms and ears, but DVa could see that her pokemon was tiring.

"Around the tree, lopunny! Lose its line of sight!"

Lopunny disengaged, grabbing a branch with one of its ears and pulling itself through the canopy.

"You cannot let it escape! Flare blitz!"

Engulfing itself in blue flames, charizard uprooted the tree, crushing it to cinders, only to see lopunny diving down from the skies, its leg outstretched.

"High jump kick!"

The kick landed on charizard's chest, slamming the flame pokemon to the ground. Taking advantage of the momentary stun, DVa went in for the attack.

Right hook. Left jab. Scissor kick. Uppercut. DVa commanded lopunny like it was a video game avatar, landing a deadly chain of hits up close. Throwing charizard into the air, lopunny landed another high jump kick, slamming its opponent into the river.

Genji sighed. "I never imagined you losing hand-to-hand combat like that."

While DVa smiled confidently, blowing kisses to the adoring fans all over the stadium, a crack appeared in the ground. It shook, expanding and snaking towards lopunny, forcing the rabbit pokemon to go airborne. Charizard rose slowly from the water, its new dragon typing nullifying its weakness to water. Roaring a challenge at lopunny, its blue flames glowed brighter than ever before.

"One more, lopunny! High jump kick!"

Lopunny plummeted towards charizard, but this time, the flame pokemon was ready. Jumping into the air, it grabbed lopunny savagely in mid-air, its tough claws holding the rabbit pokemon tight. Surrounding itself and its victim in blue flames, charizard plummeted back to the ground, putting lopunny ahead of itself so that it would bear the brunt of the fall.

"Flare blitz!"

A deafening explosion engulfed the arena, making everyone, save the elite four and champion, shield their ears and eyes. When the dust cleared, what once was a forest was either completely burnt or frozen from wishiwashi's ice beams, and charizard was peeling itself from lopunny's unconscious body, roaring victoriously.

Gabriel and Junkrat chuckled from their seats.

"Now those are fireworks."

"Lopunny is unable to battle. Hanzo gets a point."

"There's no way I'm losing! Go, torterra!"

The continent pokemon landed on the barren arena with a loud thud, its shell complete with pink highlights and even sponsor stickers all over it.

Hanzo looked at his pokemon, bearing all sorts of bruises and cuts from the battle so far. Charizard's flame often glowed brightest in the final reserves of its strength, he had to finish the battle quickly.

"Don't hesitate, charizard! Flare blitz!"

Flames burning bright once more, charizard hurled itself from the air at torterra, the latter's huge landmass and slow speed making it a hard target to miss.

"Stone edge, torterra! Shoot it down!"

Slamming the ground, multiple pillars of stone rose into the air. At torterra's command, the pillars fragmented and were sent flying towards the flame pokemon.

Charizard dodged and weaved in the air, pausing its assault to use dragon claw to destroy the bigger chunks or rock. The barrage kept coming, some sharper shards digging into charizard's flank and wings. After a gruesomely long 20 seconds, torterra tired. Grasping the opportunity, Charizard rushed in recklessly for the finishing blow, its blue flames enveloping its entire body.

"Now, torterra! Earthquake!"

Right before the flaming meteor of a dragon made contact, torterra stomped the ground with its forelegs, forming a fissure in the singed earth with spurs of rock jutting within it. Charizard could not change its course. Dragging along the barbed fissure, it crashed into torterra still, slowing to a stop after a long drag and throwing up lots of dirt. The blue flames died, save the one on its tail which glowed dimly.

"Very well. You did well today, charizard. Return."

The continent pokemon stood gingerly as its opponent was recalled. Suddenly, one of its legs collapsed, causing it to topple like a broken chair. The tree on its back caught fire, which spread to the rest of its body, incinerating all the sponsor stickers pasted on its shell. With a final roar of defeat, it sank to the ground, unconscious.

"You know what they say," Reinhardt mused, "the bigger they are, the harder they fall."

The spectating DVa fans muttered amongst themselves. Their idol had been bested by a nomad recently recruited to Overwatch. In a 2v3.

"Charizard and torterra are unable to battle. Hanzo gains the final point and wins the match."

"No fair! He had the type advantage on torterra!"

Hanzo chuckled. He remembered the times of his youth, when his brother used to argue with him like that. He gave Genji a thumbs up, before stepping forward to address DVa.

"Your partners fought honorably alongside you. It was a pleasure to face you in battle."

The korean streamer begrudgingly bowed to the archer, who bowed back.

"You were a toughie. Your pokemon would make a good boss battle. GG!"

Stowing away the pokeball containing Hanzo's last pokemon, the two competitors made their way out of the arena, chatting of their previous adventures along the way. Genji watched them go, satisfied at how his once lonesome, serious brother had learnt to brighten up and interact with society over the years.

 ***That night***

Hanzo laid his Z-ring on the pedestal on his desk. On the wall above it, his storm bow rested, though he hoped that he never had to use it through the course of this competition.

There was a knock on the hotel room door. Opening it, Hanzo saw Genji outside.

"You fought well today, brother. I can see clearly the fruits of your training. May I meditate with you tonight?"

Hanzo smiled, welcoming his brother. Genji stowed his katana on a stand in the room, and the two brothers kneeled together on a mat that Hanzo had laid out on the balcony, overlooking the green streets and many towers that made up the cityscape of Numbani.

"It was a full moon yesterday, Hanzo. Did you see it from your room? Mine didn't have a very good view."

"Yes Genji. I rarely miss such beautiful natural phenomenon. It reminds me of our childhood, when we were inseparable, carefree as the wind."

Genji smiled, looking momentarily at his brother. "The world has changed so much, brother. I am honored to be by your side again."

"I thank you too, brother, for opening my eyes to the true purpose of this life. For reaching out to me when I needed it most, all those years ago."

Under the light of the past-full moon, the two Shimada brothers meditated in silence. Unbeknownst to them, their spirit dragons looked towards the moon, communicating with their dragon-type brethren, embracing the tranquillity of the moment before another heated battle ensued the next day.

 **Author's note: Hey guys, Fyre here. Whew, that's another chapter down, leaving the Shimada Bros (who have made up at this point in the story) meditating in the moonlight. Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, if it has already taken turns that you dislike, my apologies, but I do hope that you guys are looking forward to the next chapter.**

 **I will be slightly more free for the next week, so you can expect the next chapter a little sooner. There's gonna be a bit more expansion of the plot and the results of the battle in the next match may surprise you. Make sure to leave a review if you really like the story or if there's a critical mistake that you think I should take care of. Until then, see ya!**


	5. Mccree VS Lucio

**Author's note: Hey guys, apologies for the late upload, this chapter is much longer and I've had a few pressing errands to run and I do hope that I haven't kept any of you waiting for too long! Either way, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, see ya in the next one!**

 **Mccree VS Lucio**

Mccree wasn't much of a morning person. Despite all those years of training in Blackwatch, the Texan did wish that he could wake up one morning, lie around for a bit, and let out a good ol' "IT'S HIGH NOON" before even getting out of bed.

He couldn't do that this morning, though. Yawning as he silenced the alarm clock, Mccree stumbled to the washroom, finding Gabriel already inside, almost done washing up. His commander did look much more weary than he was, black circles under the eyes and all.

"Look tired, Gabe. Had 'nuf sleep?"

"No, it's getting harder these days, I don't know why. Gettin' nightmares sometimes too. Anyways, good luck on your match today. Shouldn't be too difficult for a veteran like you."

Mccree smirked. "Don't jinx it, old man."

 ***A while later***

"Are you guys pumped?"

A deafening reply of yes.

"Well can I invite our friend Mccree down to join me in the arena?"

Much like the match yesterday, the stadium was packed full of fans of the celebrity in-house, in this case, the world-renowned DJ, Lucio. They chanted Mccree's name over and over, all excited to see their idol in action against the stereotypical cowboy.

The Texan grinned under his hat. Giving Gabriel a quick fingerbang, Mccree combat rolled from the competitors' seats into the arena, landing in a crouch with his poncho draped over most of his frame. He stood back up, tossing away his cigar.

"Competitors, send out your first pokemon."

"We've got a bullet with your name on it. Go, lycanroc!"

The midday form wolf pokemon landed on the hard packed earth, howling a battle cry. This time, the arena took the form of a plateau right under the sun, complete with an artificial pit forming a circumference.

"Alright, show me what you can do! Get out there, politoed!"

The frog pokemon uttered a growling cry, and the skies darkened with rain clouds. First a few drops, then a downpour, causing a ceiling to extend over the spectators to protect them from the rain. The two trainers in the battle, however, didn't seem to mind.

"Playing the weather game, are we? I'll play along. Lycanroc, get back! Go, tyranitar!"

The armor pokemon stomped in, replacing lycanroc. With a roar, tyranitar dispersed the thunderclouds and whipped up a dust storm instead, severely hampering politoed's vision.

"Doesn't matter, politoed! Hit it with scald!"

Politoed released a stream of boiling water from its mouth. The sand particles dampened and stuck together upon contact with the water, wasting some of the attack's potential. However, tyranitar's size was too large for politoed to miss, and despite the sandstorm weakening the attack, a good volume of water landed on its frame.

Tyranitar roared in pain, shaking to rid itself of the water. Mccree could see small flames flickering and disappearing on tyranitar's flank, and knew he could not afford any of his pokemon to be burned.

"Deliver that burn, politoed! Scald'em one more time!"

"Back, tyranitar! Be prepared, lycanroc, now move! Dodge it!"

Lycanroc hit the ground running, swerving past the column of hot water. Feeling the sand rush, the wolf pokemon sped towards its opponent.

"Round'em up, lycanroc! Stone edge!"

The rocks in lycanroc's mane detached, floating above the wolf pokemon. With a howl, the rocks sped towards politoed, landing in a coordinated ring around it to prevent escape.

"Escape, politoed! Use hyper voice to break the rocks!"

Amplifying its bellowing cry, politoed materialized sound waves and struck its rock prison, causing cracks to appear. Raising its frequency some more, through the swirling sands, it made out the faint image of lycanroc charging right at it…

"Crunch!"

Lycanroc broke through the cracked stones, its canines glowing white. Politoed, with what little warning it had, managed to move aside and shove its arm into lycanroc's mouth, the latter biting down hard.

"Quickly, politoed! Scald!"

The frog pokemon blasted boiling water once more, aimed right at the wolf pokemon attached to its arm.

"Release, lycanroc! Avoid it with accelerock!"

Lycanroc obediently let go, using the speed of accelerock to avoid the boiling water. Swiftly turning, it slammed back into politoed, throwing it into the air. The sandstorm buffeted the frog pokemon, winding it to the ground.

"As I always say, I'm the quick. You're the dead."

Jack sighed from up in the Champion's chamber. "How many times does he have to quote western movies?"

Ana chuckled. "He's doing well, Jack. Let Jesse brag a little."

Lucio was getting frustrated. Politoed had a severe disadvantage in a sandstorm, but if he could stutter lycanroc long enough for drizzle to take effect, Politoed just might regain the speed advantage.

"Alright, politoed, use hyper voice!"

No matter how fast lycanroc was, it couldn't outspeed sound. The high frequency waves spread everywhere, leaving the wolf pokemon a sitting duck. The many spectators could see that hyper voice was not very physically damaging, but Mccree noticed that lycanroc's eyes were squeezed shut, its head tucked down to its chest.

Reinhardt stroked his beard. "My friends, this strategy seems familiar. Do you recall when we last observed this in our grand tournament?"

Torbjorn thought of it first. "Wasn't that Amelie's battle two days ago? When she used galvantula's bug buzz to stutter staraptor? Gabriel, you really should'nt tell everyone all your tricks! At this rate, the battles are going to get boring!"

Gabriel smirked. "I didn't teach Amelie that. Jesse did. And he darn sure knows how to deal with it."

True enough, lycanroc did not stay distracted for long. But it was long enough. Regaining its senses just in time to see an oncoming scald, lycanroc could hardly move out of the way, the boiling water connecting its one of its forepaws.

Howling in pain, lycanroc could not keep tyranitar's sandstorm going. The dust cleared, and politoed was clear to reactivate drizzle. The rain poured once more, politoed surfing swiftly on the torrents.

"No rest for the weary, lycanroc. Stone edge!"

Rocks emerged once more from lycanroc's mane, and were sent flying towards the frog pokemon. However, politoed skated across the pools of water collected from the downpour with superior speed, avoiding the rocks and closing the gap between the two pokemon.

"If you let him getcha it's all over, lycanroc! Hit him with accelerock!"

Lycanroc's eyes now glowed white, a sheen the rocks in stone edge quickly mirrored. With a growl, the stones grew and sped up, some close enough to hit politoed. The frog pokemon jumped from one pool of water to another to avoid the rocks, some of which were beginning to slam into the ground a hair away.

"Break its concentration, politoed! Hyper voice!"

Swimming towards lycanroc, politoed magnified its cry again, the sound waves blasting lycanroc back. Yet, the wolf pokemon refused to break, even as politoed got closer and closer, desperately raising the amplitude of its hyper voice. The rocks flew nearer, until one managed to nail politoed in the foot, earning a roar of pain.

Pinning the frog pokemon to the wet earth, lycanroc raised the remaining rocks above its incapacitated foe.

"Looks like someone called the undertaker."

Lycanroc slammed all the pillars down at once. Throwing up clods of mud, the frog pokemon was not to be heard. Once again, Jack sighed.

"Politoed is unable to battle. Mccree gets a point."

"Drat! Why so serious about this, man? Anyways, go, exploud!"

The loud noise pokemon landed on the wet earth, playing an intro theme with the sound generators all over its body.

"Battling's my thing, partner, can't help but take it seriously. Lycanroc, stone edge!"

Despite certain signs of fatigue, Lycanroc sent another barrage of rocks from its mane at exploud.

"Exploud, you know what to do."

Inhaling sharply, exploud released a deafening burst of sound, shattering all the rocks and blasting lycanroc back. The spectating crowd covered their ears, but lucio fans still cheered their idol on.

Lycanroc was on the ground now, one leg too weak to stand. Exploud loomed menacingly over the wolf pokemon, ready to finish it off.

"Exploud, surf!"

The rain had subsided to a mere drizzle now, but exploud still created a wave from the remaining water on the earth, riding on top of it. With a roar, the wave crashed down on lycanroc, when the water cleared, the wolf pokemon had swirls for eyes, unconscious.

"Lycanroc is unable to battle. Lucio gains a point."

"Hmph. Moves like that don't need much aim. Go, cacturne!"

The scarecrow pokemon was quick to replace its recalled teammate. Mccree had styled this pokemon similar to himself, its spiky four-tipped hat a shade of brown, and a red poncho of dried leaves draped around its neck. The remaining moisture on the ground was promptly absorbed into the scarecrow's pokemon's spines, strengthening it.

"Amp it up, exploud! Boomburst!"

Exploud began to inhale, the stray sand particles drawn towards its gaping mouth. Before it could release the blast, cacturne advanced on the loud noise pokemon, putting its hands together and forming spiny orbs between them.

"Feed em' cacturne! Seed bomb!"

Cacturne flung the orbs into exploud's mouth, slamming one into its eyes for good measure. Blasts of green shook the arena, exploud being forced back with the concussive explosions.

"Sucker punch, now!"

As the dust cleared, exploud already had a boomburst prepared, but once again, cacturne swiftly intercepted it, landing a spiked punch square in exploud's face, following up with an uppercut. Performing a backflip, the scarecrow pokemon landed a scissor kick in exploud's chest, sending it airborne.

"You gotta hit it now, exploud! Turn it up!"

Righting itself in the air, exploud finally released the boomburst. Cacturne dug its roots into the ground, crouching while pulling its hat over its head, standing firm against the sonic blast. Grains of sand blasted across its face, but the scarecrow pokemon didn't seem to mind.

Exploud, now on the ground, advanced towards cacturne, maintaining its boomburst. Gabriel looked on with worry, remembering how lycanroc fell to Lucio's pokemon in a similar way.

The loud noise pokemon was now at point blank range, screaming down at cacturne with maximum frequency. Cacturne shrieked in pain, raising its hands. But instead of covering its ears, it punched exploud hard in the eye.

"Good one, cacturne! Follow up with drain punch!"

Drawing back its other fist, cacturne formed a green orb in it. Slamming it into exploud's other eye, green streaks of energy flew from exploud and were absorbed into cacturne's spines. Cacturne stood up straight, righting its hat.

"Attaboy. Fold em, cacturne, drain punch!"

Now it was cacturne that stood over the doubled-over exploud, seed bombs in hand. Prying open exploud's mouth, cacturne loaded its explosives, pushing the loud noise pokemon back, before connecting a full-force drain punch.

The blast shook the arena, Lucio fans growing worried for their idol's chance of victory. Meanwhile, junkrat giggled from his seat before roadhog stopped him with a cuff around the neck.

"Brings a tear to mah eye…"

"Exploud is unable to battle. Mccree gets a point."

"Might as well get this over with! Go, altaria!"

The humming pokemon trilled a high-pitch song of draconic origin, earning applause from the audience. Lucio raised his gloved hand, a key stone attached to it.

"Let's get serious, altaria! Mega evolve!"

The altarianite and key stone shone with a resonant blue, and altaria's tails extended, its billowing cloud of a body expanding outwards, covering its neck and forming two separate arms, glimmering with an iridescent sheen.

"He can't touch you, altaria! Use dragon dance!"

Trilling an uplifting tune, altaria surrounded itself with a pinkish aura, concentrating it in its arms and wings. It seemed to dance, cacturne's attempts at hurling seed bombs proving futile, direct hits barely scratching the thick cloudy cloak of the humming pokemon. Drain punch was easily avoided with the advantage of flight, but repeated seed bombings began to take a toll on altaria's stamina.

"Alright, that's enough, altaria. Now, return!"

Trilling joyously, altaria dived straight for cacturne.

"Now, cacturne! Sucker punch!"

Cacturne's fist dug deep into altaria's left wing, but before any significant damage could be done, the scarecrow pokemon had been smothered on the ground, sending up twinkling sparks signifying the pixilation of the humming pokemon's return. Once altaria got off and removed cacturne's hat, the scarecrow pokemon was unconscious.

Ana smiled at the adorable yet powerful humming pokemon, reminding her of Fareeha in her childhood, accidentally knocking out her friends in martial arts class and immediately checking if they were all right.

"Cacturne is unable to battle. Lucio gains a point."

"Interesting taste in soprano music ya got there. Looks like you got the hot hand for now. Go, tyranitar!"

The armor pokemon lumbered onto the battlefield once more. This time, Mccree had to make full use of his star pokemon to achieve victory. His metal arm had been made a long time ago, but had recently been fitted with a key stone, just for use in moments like this.

"It's high noon, tyranitar. Mega evolve."

Tyranitar roared as the spines on its shoulders elongated, its tail becoming more pronged and its chest armor perforating, exposing its seething inner core.

"Go at it, altaria! Return!"

"Dodge with dragon dance!"

As bulky as the armor pokemon was, tyranitar managed to avoid altaria's flailing arms and tails with mystic, frentic movements. Altaria screeched in frustration, feigning with its tails and then tackling tyranitar in the chest. Gathering light in its right wing, altaria attempted to nail the armor pokemon in the eyes, but was stopped by tyranitar's powerful fist.

"'Scuse us, partner. Ice punch!"

Ice spread over tyranitar's fists, creeping onto altaria's clouds. The humming pokemon screeched in pain and shock, unable to detach itself from the icy handhold.

"Stone edge!"

With a savage smile, tyranitar stomped the ground, causing blades of stone to rise and slam hard into altaria's body of clouds. The humming pokemon shrieked, blasted back by the sharpened rocks.

Lucio rushed to his pokemon's side, worried to see multiple puncture wounds on altaria's chest. Lucio noticed the sky getting darker, looking up, finding only tyranitar plummeting down, a ring of sharpened stones levitating around it.

"Draw!"

The EDM musician dashed out of the way, commanding altaria to do the same. A hail of sharpened rocks came crashing down, altaria barely managing to get airborne and avoid the shower with a few more minor injuries.

"Plan B, then. Crunch!"

The armor pokemon changed course, mouth wide open and fangs glowing white, heading straight for the humming pokemon. Despite all its injuries, altaria managed to veer aside, using its tails to snare tyranitar around the outstretched neck. The armor pokemon was caught severely off guard, and slammed harshly into the ground below, forming a crater.

"Finish him, hyper voice!"

Altaria inhaled sharply, before blasting a high soprano note at the grounded tyranitar.

"Protect yourself! Stone edge shield!"

Summoning more rocks, tyranitar formed a large, domed, spiky-edged hield above itself, absorbing the attack. Altaria kept the note going, closing in on the armor pokemon and trying different angles to drop tyranitar's guard.

"Wait for it…"

Altaria suddenly veered to tyranitar's left, attempting to stun its opponent.

"Go for its left wing, now!"

Tyranitar suddenly dropped its guard, slamming its shield's spined edge into altaria's left wing. Surprisingly, altaria's left wing spontaneously combusted, the humming pokemon squealing in shock. Pressing its advantage, tyranitar crunched hard on the frayed wing, twisting its head to remove the cloudy padding.

Spiky shells fell to the ground from altaria's mutilated wing, causing the crowd to gasp.

Jack was impressed. "Sticky seed bombs. A pretty good memento if you ask me."

Altaria screeched in pain, only to be silenced by an ice punch to the face. Unable to regain its flight, the humming pokemon was open to tyranitar's every follow-up, taking a crunch to the neck and another ice punch in the back as the armor pokemon drove it back further and further.

The plateau's edge wasn't far off now. Tyranitar landed another stone edge, riddling the grounded altaria's wings with jagged fractals.

"Finish it, tyranitar! This. Is. Overwatch!"

The armor pokemon readied a spartan kick, about to send the incapacitated altaria into the void. Out if the blue, altaria screeched with sudden defiance, snaring tyranitar's outstretched leg with its tails. In one swift motion, the armor pokemon was dragged off the plateau, roaring in surprise.

Tired but victorious, altaria got on its feet, trilling a cheerful tune. Lucio took a bow, and the audience went wild with applause.

"Tyranitar is unable to battle. Lucio gets the final point and wins the match."

Mccree was still in a state of shock of how he fell so easily to altaria's feign of weakness. Tyranitar's faint roaring was silenced with a dull thud, and Mccree recalled the armor pokemon into its pokeball.

"I'll deal with you later."

Lucio approached the Texan with a broad grin and an outstretched hand.

"Been a pleasure, Mccree. I loved the challenge your pokemon proved to be. You guys really do have that power in you."

Mccree hesitated, before shaking it warmly.

"Same here, Lucio. Mighty fine battle, partner. Would do that again anytime."

Up in the Champion's chamber, Gabriel facepalmed, sighing. Torbjorn was the first to go up and tease him.

"Looks like yer 'star pupil' just got beaten by a frog in skating wear! Don't worry, Gabe, we all know you're not a good teacher, or we would've all been wielding dual shotguns by now! How old fashioned would that be?"

Gabriel chuckled as he watched Lucio wallride around the seats, giving his fans hi-fives and signing autographs.

"I'll deal with him later."

* **Later** *

Mccree gulped down another shot of whiskey, pointing drunkenly.

"Nail the stone edge this time, tyranitar, go for the wings… Eh, want another shot, Gabe?"

Mccree's mega tyranitar, tired by repeated drunken orders to use stone edge, used ice punch instead. However, its opponent was alert, flying out of reach and blasting bursts of light at the armor pokemon from its 3 heads.

"Nah, any more and I'll be as drunk as you are. Hydreigon, flash cannon!"

Outside the bar, hydreigon's 3 heads converged their beams, landing a direct hit on tyranitar's seething core.

"Yknow, I kinda wanted to ask ya about your nightmares and stuff… you doing ok, boss?"

The friendly battle raged on outside, tyranitar, without a proper command, went wild, channeling the heat leaking from its core to land an improvised fire punch, grabbing hydreigon's left head in a deadlock.

"That ain't your concern, Jesse. It's getting worse, sure, and nightmares ain't a common thing for me, but maybe if you paid more attention to training, you would've won the battle today. I don't know, maybe getting piss drunk will magically put me to sleep."

Hydreigon retaliated violently, crunching on tyranitar's shoulder while blasting a dragon pulse at its flank with its free head.

Mccree giggled girlishly. "Maybe I'll tell Angela about it."

All of a sudden, the battle outside calmed, and the two pokemon started roaring, not at each other, but at the waning moon. Puzzled, Gabriel was the first to speak.

"Well, looks like they've had enough for today. Back in, Hydreigon. And no, you will not tell doc about it."

Mccree laughed again, recalling tyranitar who squirmed restlessly.

"Watch me, partner."


	6. Mercy VS Zenyatta

**Mercy VS Zenyatta**

"Thames, I'm going to need you to hold still. Gardevoir, heal pulse."

The embrace pokemon spread its arms, forming a golden sphere between them. Massaging it on the young agent's mutilated leg, the golden glow spread across his lower body, and his limb regrew right before his eyes.

Mercy had known to be a miracle worker before, but with the help of her partner pokemon, her prowess grew exponentially. Waving Thames goodbye, she pulled out a TM from under the desk.

Linking the TM to her laptop, she signalled gardevoir over. A new tab appeared on her laptop: a tutorial for shadow ball.

"Gardevoir, forget heal pulse. Comply as stated on the tutorial."

The embrace pokemon learned quickly, forming a blob of shadowy mass that it hurled at a nearby human skeleton model, shattering it.

Draping a lab coat over her shoulders, Mercy recalled gardevoir, stepping out of her makeshift clinic.

"If only I didn't have to participate."

The angel could save lives, but she could take them as well.

 ***Later***

The stadium was packed, as usual, but the crowd was getting restless. The arena had been changed to an armada of solid clouds, covering a long artificial drop. In the challenger's corner, Zenyatta meditated peacefully, communicating with his partner pokemon on the astral plane.

The omnic monk sensed a presence. That, and a round of applause and cheers of encouragement. Activating his optics, he saw Mercy walking through the arena gate on the opposite end, a microphone in hand.

"Good morning everyone. I hope you have been doing fine?"

Replies of yes and shouts of encouragement.

"Good," she continued in her angelic voice, topped off with a German accent. "Before we begin, I would like to once again remind everyone, that defeating your enemy should not be the focus of pokemon battling. It is about bonding and growing together with your partner, as you would with a human, or Omnic friend."

"The pokemon healthcare services, free as you all would know, have been funded by Overwatch, and I hope that you all are able to capitalize on this to grow stronger together with your pokemon. Thank you."

The spectator's cheers were silenced by Athena.

"Competitors, send out your first pokemon."

"I believe in you, florges. Go!"

"You and I are one, beheeyem."

The embrace pokemon faced the cerebral pokemon, the two waiting obediently for instructions.

"Begin!"

"Florges, toxic!"

Buds were expelled from florges' yellow flower, releasing clouds of purple gas. With its hands, the garden pokemon directed the gas to beheeyem, forcing it into the cerebral pokemon's system and badly poisoning it. However, beheeyem did not retaliate, instead pointing its 3-fingered arm at florges, flashing its fingers while analysing it. Its green eyes flashed, and made a sound similar to deep laugher.

Mccree was confused. "What'd beheeyem do there? He's gonna miss his turn."

Winston, sitting nearby on an oversized chair, replied.

"Beheeyem shows signs of having used nasty plot. Put that with its ability, which I presume to be analytic, it could deal some serious damage to florges next turn."

"Well, she'd be darned. Also, isn't a doctor restricted from using toxins? Ain't that against the hippocratic oath or something?"

"I would trust Angela to have her degree in toxicology. Remember: pokemon battles aim to knock out, not kill. Whatever venom florges is using now should be non-lethal, and I am confident that Angela would be able to restore beheeyem after the battle without difficulty."

Beheeyem flinched as purple sparks flew from its cranium, causing it to take poison damage. Seizing the opportunity, Mercy made her move.

"Florges, moonblast!"

A reflection of the moon appeared in the sky, shooting down a beam that enveloped florges' flower. With a battlecry, florges launched a pink pulse of energy at beheeyem, blasting it back. The cerebral pokemon lost its focus, its special attack dropping, but Zenyatta was not deterred.

"Beheeyem, psyshock!"

Orbs of red, green and yellow formed between the cerebral pokemon's arms, which sent them flying towards florges. Lacking the mobility of many previous contestants, the garden pokemon took multiple direct hits, wailing at the concussive blasts.

Noticing florges' subpar defense, beheeyem ran another algorithm through its cranium, its eyes flashing. Despite suffering another turn of increasing poison damage, the cerebral pokemon amassed a huge amount of psychic energy, readying a large volley of psyshock orbs.

"Florges, protect!"

As beheeyem launched a few of its orbs, florges formed a yellow barrier in front of it, causing them to ricochet off, punching holes in the cloud. Florges dispelled the barrier, as beheeyem took another turn of poison damage.

The cerebral pokemon did not have long left. As florges readied another moonblast, Zenyatta predicted another protect on the next turn.

"Beheeyem, land your psyshock on the moonblast!"

As the pulse of pink energy sped towards beheeyem, the cerebral pokemon sent a volley of its psyshock orbs straight at it. The two attacks collided in midair, exploding in a cloud of pink and green smoke.

With visibility severely hampered, Mercy had no choice but to call another protect, just as Zenyatta predicted. But this time, the omnic monk tried something different.

"Thunderbolt!"

A white blast of electricity erupted from one of beheeyem's orbs, not aimed at florges, but at the cloudy floor around it. Blazing through the clouds, the cerebral pokemon formed a wide radius of sheer drop around the garden pokemon, restricting its escape.

Another round of poison damage, this time so strong the the circuitry on beheeyem's cranium flashed purple altogether. Dispelling its protective barrier, Mercy ordered florges to use moonblast once more.

Beheeyem looked straight at the moonblast. Time seemed to slow as it calculated its arc and velocity, matching it with previous launched attacks. Then, in a blur of motion, it dashed under the moonblast, the orb missing its oversized head by a calculated millimeter. The cerebral pokemon readied 5 psyshock orbs, pummeling the garden pokemon with them.

There was no time to react. Florges took the brunt of the attack, fainting instantly and giving Zenyatta a point. From above, the elite four and champion looked on with surprise, always pleased to have a strong trainer under them.

"Come to think of it, psyshock is actually pretty clever. Gives blissey a hard time, much more dangerous than those focus blast users."

Reinhardt smiled, patting Ana on the back.

"Nonsense, my dear. Your blissey could withstand anything! I remember, it recovered from a sacred sword like it was a scratch!"

"Ok, Reinhardt, we know Ana's pretty strong. Let's see what Mercy has up her sleeve to turn the battle around…"

Statistically speaking, Mercy didn't really have a proper counter to beheeyem. However, with increasing poison damage, she just might be able to stall her opponent out and form a counterpush.

"Go, gardevoir!"

The embrace pokemon landed on the cloud gracefully, sparking some cheering from the crowd. Anyone that had been under Mercy's care would know of her faithful pokemon companion, who assisted her in medical procedures ever since she captured it a few months after the Swiss headquarters blew up. Now they wanted to see if it was a good battler.

Gardevoir noticed beheeyem's composed stance and flashing fingers, deducing its ability, analytic. Adapting it as its own ability with trace, it analysed beheeyem's previous attacks, preparing itself for psyshock or thunderbolt.

Unexpectedly, Zenyatta ordered a shadow ball. Beheeyem formed a mass of darkness with black static around the edges, flinging it towards gardevoir. Without time for evasive action, Mercy ordered a calm mind as the shadowy blob landed a direct hit, scattering black smoke everywhere.

Beheeyem sunk to the ground, its cranium lined with purple. Zenyatta rushed to his pokemon, helping it up.

"The iris embraces you, beheeyem. Hold strong…"

Shadow ball's smokescreen was dispelled by a bright flash of pink, with Mercy and her partner pokemon, now a mega gardevoir, at the centre of it.

"An interesting phenomenon… this requires more research. Gardevoir, shadow ball!"

Having learnt quickly, gardevoir formed a dark mass, much like beheeyem, separating it into three. With a wave of its arm, the shadow balls were sent flying towards the cerebral pokemon, which countered with its own shadow ball.

Without hesitation, beheeyem launched a psyshock beam at gardevoir, the embrace pokemon dodging it just in time using its newfound speed. The cerebral pokemon readied another shadow ball, only to be stopped by a hyper voice commanded by Mercy, the scream vaporising the blob of shadow and sending beheeyem flying back.

"Become one with the sky, beheeyem. Thunderbolt!"

Unprepared for the attack, beheeyem's calculated strike landed hard on gardevoir's chest spike, causing a cry of pain.

"Verdammt! Gardevoir, recover with calm mind."

Soothing itself, the embrace pokemon meditated for a few moments in silence. Meanwhile, beheeyem was struggling in its battle against florges' toxins, with Zenyatta by its side, comforting it.

"Y'know, I'm surprised the alien managed to hold up for this long. The monk's gotta have a mighty fine bond with it," Mccree said to no one in particular.

Overhearing this with psychic, gardevoir had quite an ingenious idea. Without a command from Mercy, the embrace pokemon directed its psychic abilities to beheeyem. It could see the plague of poisons destroying its mind, the innards of its cranium filled with streaks of purple.

Gardevoir pulled directly on beheeyem's conscience. Unbeknownst to anyone, the embrace pokemon seeded a terrifying thought in the cerebral pokemon's mind.

 _Let it consume you…_

Beheeyem shuddered, surprising Zenyatta. Its eyes flashed purple as it groaned in pain, finally succumbing to poison damage. The cerebral pokemon fell flat onto the cloudy floor, purple sparks flying from its cranium.

"Beheeyem is unable to battle. Mercy gets a point."

Zenyatta smiled internally, recalling beheeyem into the pokeballs stored in the orbs floating around his neck.

"A disciplined mind is truly a dependable ally, sailing one smoothly through the sea of knowledge. But there is always a bigger fish. In our case, alakazam…"

The psi pokemon levitated in the air with psychic, a piece of alakazite set into one of its spoons. Zenyatta revealed a key stone in one of his orbs, and alakazam mega evolved, needing not a word from its trainer.

"Now, a test of minds… psychic!"

"Gardevoir, psychic as well!"

Suddenly, Athena's voice blared over the loudspeakers.

"For the sake of psychic visualisation, an astral projector has been activated. Spectators, please enjoy the ongoing battle in the astral plane. Thank you."

A pink screen formed over the arena, and two silhouettes appeared on it, one of gardevoir and one of alakazam. The trainers and pokemon were standing still on the arena, but the pokemon silhouettes were very much alive, battling it out with all their might.

On the projector, alakazam formed dozens of spoons above its head, sharpened their edges and sent them raining down on gardevoir. The embrace pokemon formed a shield, blocking the spoons and slamming the shield into the psi pokemon's flank.

Alakazam retaliated, wrenching the shield away and slashing at gardevoir with a giant spoon, only for the embrace pokemon to duck and land a roundhouse kick on alakazam's face, pushing the psi pokemon back.

Recovering, alakazam put its spoons together, forming an orb between them. Gardevoir did the same, readying an attack between its hands. Simultaneously, beams of energy erupted from the orbs, colliding in midair.

DVa giggled from the crowd. "Oooh, quick time event!"

Both pokemon's silhouettes squinted in concentration, gardevoir's chest spikes and alakazam's gem glowing brighter than ever before. The beam's collision point shifted back and forth, calmly at first, but as time went by, the point of collision began to swing wildly as the standoff proceeded, first over to gardevoir, then to alakazam, the cycle repeating itself over and over.

The beam glowed brighter on the astral projector. And it didn't stop. The spectators grew restless as the glare started getting unbearable, to a point where people were beginning to feel a static interference. Was it the system? It felt like it was coming from inside them…

The elite four and champion started to feel uneasy as well. Jack was the first to talk.

"The standoff is still going? What's the energy level?"

Winston radioed in. "We didn't think it'd exceed the terajoule, but if it continu-"

The astral projector began to crack, beams of psychic energy spilling out from them. Within the arena, Mercy was first to notice this. Gardevoir followed its trainer's line of sight, gasping at the sight of the overstrained machine.

The embrace pokemon lost its focus. Without mercy, alakazam pushed forth, overpowering gardevoir with psychic. The astral projector's energy levels began to drop, as the spectators settled back down, watching the battle intently.

The psi pokemon chained gardevoir with its psychic capabilities, readying a shadow ball to finish off the embrace pokemon. Unexpectedly, Mercy ordered a desperate hyper voice, blasting alakazam back. The psychic chains around gardevoir dissipated, and the embrace pokemon readied multiple shadow balls, taking aim at alakazam.

"A chance to focus…calm your mind."

Alakazam meditated, not moving a muscle. Gardevoir released the dark masses, its aim on point. The shadow balls sailed closer and closer, and right before impact, Alakazam's eyes snapped open.

"Psychic!"

The shadow balls were held stationary in the air as alakazam's spoons glowed pink. Narrowing its eyes, the psi pokemon fired the attack back at gardevoir. With hardly any stamina left, the embrace pokemon could not overthrow alakazam's psychic hold on its own attack.

All five shadow balls connected on gardevoir, filling the arena with smoke. Alakazam cleared it with psychic, revealing gardevoir's unconscious body on the cloud.

"Gardevoir is unable to battle. Zenyatta gains a point."

"Well, since none of us here are psychic type trainers, I'd say the Shambali's pretty good at training them. I've never seen anyone overpower Mercy's gardevoir before."

"That is true, Ana, but they're pretty weak physically. Send a dark main like Gabriel and he'd tear up their ranks like a hot knife through butter. Ain't that right?"

Gabriel smiled. "Thanks, Jack."

Mercy had no way to tell how much damage she'd done to alakazam. With that poker face and no physical signs of injury, she could only hope that her last pokemon could take out Zenyatta's trump card.

"You're our last chance, sylveon. Bring it home!"

The intertwining pokemon used hyper voice right off the bat, stopping alakazam from getting a direct psychic hold on it.

"A closed mind is already defeated. Alakazam, thunderbolt!"

Employing his old strategy once again, alakazam forced sylveon to constantly change positions, destroying calculated regions of cloudy flooring with its thunderbolts.

As the intertwining pokemon jumped from cloud to cloud, alakazam analysed its position positioning patterns, and with one precise prefire, the psi pokemon blasted a thunderbolt at sylveon's next foothold, staggering it.

Mercy willed sylveon on as the intertwining pokemon used its ribbon-like feelers to pull itself back onto the cloud. However, a pink aura surrounded sylveon's feelers, radiating with psychic energy.

"No…"

The psi pokemon squinted, concentrating its psychic power. One by one, sylveon's feelers were plucked from the cloud, the intertwining pokemon looking at its trainer, purring sadly.

"It's alright sylveon, don't be afraid. You'll return, I promise."

With its last feeler plucked from the surface, sylveon plummeted into the void, crying distinctly. Mercy recalled the intertwining pokemon as the astral projector's screen retracted. It was over.

"Sylveon is unable to battle. Zenyatta gains the final point and wins the match."

Mercy chuckled. "Well, what can I expect. You truly are a strong and learned trainer, Zenny. Let me get our partners patched up."

"Thank you, Dr. Ziegler. It was a pleasure."

The spectators cheered and waved as the two supports left the arena. Now knowing the hidden strength of Mercy's pokemon, their admiration of everyone's favorite doctor steadily grew.

 ***Around 10pm that night***

Mercy stacked her notes and patient reports as she recalled gardevoir into its pokeball. Just a bit more paperwork and she would call it a day. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Yes, come in."

A man in a poncho and cowboy hat stepped into the miniature clinic, glancing outside before closing the door.

"Ah, Mccree. What seems to be the problem?"

Sending gardevoir out, the Texan began to speak.

"First, doc, don't tell Gabe that I came around. He's probably still piss drunk at the bar so I took the chance to come over."

"Why would commander Reyes not want you to consult me?"

"Oh no, it ain't me. It's him. The man's been having nightmares lately. Getting worse. All mumbly in his sleep, talking about leaving. I got no clue what's on his mind but Gabe ain't been like this ever since I got to know him. There's something wrong, doc, but he says he's fine and doesn't need help."

Gardevoir looked intently from Mccree, then back to Mercy.

"No, gardevoir, we are not going to probe Gabriel's mind. Not yet. Tell you what, Mccree. I can't really do much if Gabriel doesn't come to me himself, but I will try talking to him."

"For now, I'll give you a batch of serotonin suppressants that you could get him to use. I don't know, slip it in his supper or something. Try to get him to eat melatonin rich foods and take a hot bath before bed. Is there anything else?"

"Well, if you can treat pokemon, I guess there is…"

"Let me have a look."

Mccree sent tyranitar out of its pokeball, careful not to destroy any of the medical equipment.

"Was having a friendly against Gabe yesterday night. Everything about him's fine as of now, ain't it? Well look at this."

Mccree threw open the curtains covering a nearby window, revealing the figure of the waning moon. Immediately, tyranitar started roaring at the window, without any reaction when gardevoir waved its hand in front of its eyes, or even touched its nose.

The door suddenly opened, covering the window. Tyranitar suddenly stopped roaring, tilting its head in confusion.

"What's all the ruckus here? And don't- oh right Mccree. Didn't I tell you not to say a word to doc about this?"

Mccree was quick to defend himself. "Ain't about that, boss. Ttar's been acting up ever since last night, I'm sure hydreigon's having the same deal. I just want to find out what's going on."

"Wait, did you say Gabriel's hydreigon is undergoing the same phenomenon? This is most curious. Gentlemen, I'm going to have to borrow a few of your partner pokemon to root out the source of this incident."

"Well, anything you say, doc."

The ex-blackwatch operatives handed over tyranitar and hydreigon, turning to leave. Mercy was about to say something about Gabriel's sleep condition, but as the door closed, she decided not to.

"Well, looks like another sleepless night."

 **Author's note: Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh I'm sorry I'm late. So much stuff to do also Orisa is coming out. Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. What could be wrong with tyranitar and hydreigon, though? You won't find out so soon!**


	7. Genji VS Winston

**Genji VS Winston**

The battleground setting was put on random, as usual. Winston pushed his glasses up, laying a hand on the activation switch. Before he could pull it, however, someone called out to him.

"Winston, setting up early today, aren't we?"

"Oh, Commander Morrison. Yes, sir, I am about to initiate today's arena terrain formation sequence. It's quite the spectacle."

The hyperintelligent gorilla pulled the activation switch. The randomizer slowed to a stop, the screen reading "Ravine".

"This one ought to be interesting."

Artificial pillars of rock rose from the borders of the arena, leaving large glass panes for spectators to see through. In a matter of seconds, the ceiling had been sealed off, and a complex cave system was formed where the empty arena once was, complete with a giant chasm in the middle.

"Not bad. Looks like Harold taught you a thing or two. But I'm not here to congratulate you for it. The UN's been worried about the astral projector since yesterday's psychic standoff. You sure that thing is safe under high pressure?"

Winston frowned, stroking his chin. "Of course… I will relook at the projector, though I would assure you, sir, that the astral projector is 100% safe to use under normal circumstances. Do forward to me any relevant reports and complaints."

"Good. I'll leave you to it, then. Oh, by the way, you're up against Shimada today. Genji Shimada."

 ***Later***

Spectators cheered wildly as the cyborg ninja backflipped into the chasm, landing in a crouch. Winston straightened his glasses, nodding curtly at his opponent.

"I look forward to battling you, Genji. Just like old times."

"The honor is mine. Let us bring out our true strengths."

"Competitors, send out your first pokemon."

"Take the lead, passimian."

"Swift as the wind, go ninjask!"

Winston analysed the ninja pokemon, considering his options. Just as Athena announced begin, the scientist immediately ordered a switch, sending out his vikavolt. However, the cyborg ninja was one step ahead, ordering a substitute that scattered copies of the ninja pokemon all around the cave complex. Seeming to familiarize itself with its new battleground, ninjask shifted positions rapidly, boosting its speed.

"Right. That kind of ninjask. In that case… agility!"

Prediction on point, the stag beetle pokemon phased from one copy of ninjask to another, upping its speed game. Fearing an attack, Genji had ordered a protect, but Winston's superior judgement allowed him to capitalise on this opportunity to put vikavolt on par with ninjask's mobility.

Ninjask's speed boost activated again, widening the speed gap once more. Inconclusive on how to proceed, Winston settled on a bug buzz. Despite the type ineffectiveness, Winston observed the reactions of every ninjask image, pinpointing one that reacted much more strongly to the attack…

"Ninjask, leech life!"

Swift as the wind, the ninja pokemon darted from cover behind its substitutes, latching onto vikavolt's foreleg. Before it could dig its claws in, however, the stag beetle pokemon swatted it away with its mandibles, charging a yellow ball of energy within them.

"Thunderbolt!"

With vikavolt's twin mouthparts acting as rails, a blinding electric blast raced towards ninjask. On orders from Genji, the ninja pokemon extended twin blades from its scythes, gracefully swerving out of the way of vikavolt's attack. The thunderbolt connected with multiple substitutes, destroying them before crashing into the cave wall.

Finished with its swords dance, ninjask's speed and attack grew. Summoning more substitutes, the many images glowered down at vikavolt like a swarm of bats, with the real ninjask slipping left and right, looking for an opening.

Little did Genji know, Winston and his vikavolt had kept note of ninjask's position ever since it was revealed with bug buzz. Taking aim, vikavolt fired at ninjask, only for a protect shield to surround the ninja pokemon.

The thunderbolt was deflected into the cave wall, causing a cave-in. Ninjask, with its speed being constantly boosted, had no trouble escaping into the main chasm, leaving vikavolt lagging behind despite its agility boosted speed.

Rocks tumbled down, sealing the shaft and throwing up a cloud of dust. Vikavolt barely made it out. Shaking dirt from its eyes, it saw the multitudes of ninjask substitutes, but now, it was a gallade that stood behind them.

" _Hon ki-o misete miro._ Gallade, mega evolve!"

Behind the rocks, pillars and ninjask substitutes, spectators could make out the changing form of gallade as its blades grew longer and jagged, its helmet curving downwards and a cape billowing out from its back. Its arms glowed with a light red aura, a memento of the speed and attack passed on from ninjask.

"Zen headbutt!"

A blue aura surrounded gallade's helmet. With its ninjask substitutes buzzing around it, the blade pokemon jumped high and went into a nosedive at the stag beetle pokemon. However, vikavolt used its agility to swerve out of the way, forcing gallade to land with a backflip. But before gallade could fully recover, Winston ordered a full-power bug buzz from vikavolt, flooding the arena with red sound waves.

Up in the Champion's chamber, Reinhardt sighed. "Kids these days, playing with their sound weapons and bypassing substitutes. Back in our day, we had to physically pummel our way through the enemy, isn't that right, my friends?"

Torbjorn piped in. "I told ya, the size of the hammer doesn't matter! These sonic blasts can bring rockfalls down harder than your big hamm-"

"Guys, stop. I don't think any of that's hitting gallade any time soon."

The Elite Four and Champion have seen many sound-based moves executed and countered over the past 5 matches, and this time, it was mega gallade's inner focus that pulled it together. Ignoring the deafening noise around it, gallade suddenly sprung from its crouch, landing its zen headbutt at last. The red aura from its arms gathered onto its helmet, blasting the stag beetle pokemon away.

Vikavolt recovered, retaliating with a thunderbolt that tore through many more ninjask substitutes. Gallade dashed to the side, before sprinting up close to the stag beetle pokemon. Its arms shrouded in ice, the blade pokemon attempted an ice punch. Vikavolt promptly crunched on gallade's free arm, slamming it into the chasm wall.

Tightening its grip, the stag beetle pokemon began to form a bolt of electricity between its mouthparts, ready to blast gallade into oblivion. However, Genji was quick to react, ordering a zen headbutt that the blade pokemon landed square on vikavolt's mandibles. The stag beetle pokemon released its grip, allowing gallade to grab it by the abdomen and pin it into the chasm wall.

Extending a blade from its arms, gallade fired off one swift slice, loosening the structure of the ravine wall. Releasing vikavolt and backflipping away, a rock slide came crashing down onto the stag beetle pokemon. Once the dust cleared, vikavolt was quite evidently crushed and unconscious.

"Vikavolt is unable to battle. Genji gains a point."

"Impressive, my friend! Your gallade seems to be stronger than I had calculated. Looks like further documentation is required… metagross?"

The iron leg pokemon shook the arena a little as it landed. Winston tapped his glasses, revealing a key stone.

"As validated by science, mega evolve!"

Metagross morphed in a flash, its legs thickening and swinging forward like a four-pronged claw. With a deep whirr, it began to levitate off the ground as it scanned its opponent, its 8 parallel brains processing as one.

"Gallade, close combat!"

With the element of surprise, gallade dashed right into metagross, its few remaining ninjask substitutes in tow. However, the iron leg pokemon finished its calculations right on time, dashing out of the way and preparing a horizontal swing with two of its clawed arms.

The attack came down, without any time for gallade to parry. The remaining ninjask substitutes sacrificed themselves instead, disappearing into puffs of smoke as metagross' heavy arms rammed hard into them.

While metagross recovered from the heavy swing, gallade swerved 180 and landed a swipe to one of its rear arms. Flipping the iron leg pokemon into the air with a vertical swipe, the blade pokemon took aim, and launched a full force thrust at the hole in metagross' central chassis.

However, the iron leg pokemon recovered quickly. Predicting gallade's attack, metagross righted itself and caught gallade's blade in one of its four clawed arms. Gallade tried another swipe with its free arm, only for that to be caught by metagross as well.

"Brace yourself, gallade!"

With two arms free, metagross slugged gallade heavily in the chest, throwing it to the chasm wall. Tucking all four of its arms in, metagross began to spin, whirring like a jet engine, with a blue aura forming around it.

"Meteor mash!"

"Get to cover, now!"

Gallade scrambled into a nearby cave opening just as metagross' heavy, spinning arms crashed into the chasm wall, causing multiple shock waves, an explosive cloud of dust and forming cracks that zigzagged all the way up the ravine. The spectators oohed at the pure power of metagross' strike, only to have gallade avoid it at the last second.

"Yes! Now that is power! An unfortunate miss, however…"

As usual, Torbjorn was first to tease the German veteran. "Reminds me of the times you miss your charge, you old brute! The fireworks coming out of your armor was always a spectacular sight!"

Metagross screeched in anger, starting towards the cave entrance. However, Winston stopped him, with another strategy in mind.

"Precision strikes, metagross. Bullet punch here, here and here."

Metagross obeyed without question, blasting out chunks of rock with its heavy arms. The ravine shuddered, and Genji caught on to what Winston was planning.

"Gallade! Get out of there now!"

The entire section of the chasm wall crumbled, as gallade's cave section began to collapse. Rocks tumbled down, threatening to seal the entrance at any minute, while metagross kept its distance, careful not to be by falling rocks. Its arms continued to glow from the bullet punches it fired off, prompting Genji to issue a reminder…

"Your enemy is right outside, by your left!"

Gallade burst from the collapsing cave, its cape strewn with dirt. Just as predicted, metagross dashed at its revealed opponent, one of its arms outstretched. With lightning-fast reflexes, the blade pokemon parried the blow, and countered with a vicious chop to the arm socket.

Under normal circumstances, metagross' tough steel exoskeleton, coupled with its psionic barriers, would easily be able to withstand such a blow. However, the contestants and spectators alike were able to see the gash from gallade's previous blow to metagross' arm widen in that split second, and with a ghastly metallic _shriek_ the heavy, clawed arm was sheared clean off.

Everyone gasped collectively, with Mercy's hand flying instinctively to her mouth.

Metagross screeched in agony, though its arm had already begun to reconstruct itself. Capitalising on that massive blow, gallade stabbed one of its blades hard into the top of metagross' chassis, prepared to deal the finishing blow. However, the cornered metagross swung its arms wildly, managing to nail gallade and shake him off.

"Recuperate, metagross. Keep your distance!"

The iron leg pokemon levitated further up with its psychic abilities, gaining a height advantage over gallade. However, gallade was not deterred, like master, like partner. Using its blades as anchors, it scaled the ravine wall, pulling itself towards metagross' level so it could launch a final blow.

"Keep him off, metagross! Earthquake!"

Slamming two of its arms like jackhammers into the cliff face that gallade was climbing, metagross caused a series of tremors that loosened rocks and portions of the entire wall. Forced to jump ship, gallade made one great leap at the iron leg pokemon, both its blades ready to sink into metagross' core.

The iron leg pokemon predicted that attack easily, swatting gallade off course with bullet punch. However, the blade pokemon clung on to its arm, prompting metagross to dive towards the cliff face, attempting to slam gallade into it.

Gallade flipped over onto metagross' underside as the iron leg pokemon rammed into the wall, causing a miniature rock slide. While metagross was distracted by the countless stones pelting its carapace, gallade jumped onto metagross' face, one of its blades shrouded in red energy from ninjask's attack boosts.

Realising its impending doom, metagross quickly regained flight control, using one of its arms to hold gallade's blade back. Then another, and another. 3 heavy metal claws holding back a boosted stab from the blade pokemon, yet the organic blade still inched further. The iron leg pokemon was weak from the battle, and without its fourth arm, it could do nothing to stop gallade's arm sinking into its facial cross.

Going all the way through, gallade promptly removed its blade from metagross' chassis. Its opponent's eyes went dark, and the 942kg monstrosity sank to the ground. The blade pokemon jumped off, dusting its cape.

"Metagross is unable to battle. Genji gains a point."

" _Mizu no yō ni nagare_. Let us hope your passimian can reverse the outcome."

Back in the battle, gallade immediately engaged the teamwork pokemon with close combat, forcing passimian to parry with a close combat of its own.

The two fighting types engaged in a heated close range scuffle. With the power of mega evolution, gallade clearly had the upper hand, but passimian was putting up a good fight, swinging from gallade's flashing blades and landing a double kick into gallade's chest.

Recovering easily, gallade counterattacked hard and fast, its arms a blur of motion as it sent a flurry of stabs and slashes towards passimian, who ducked and weaved like there was no tomorrow.

Feigning left, gallade instead delivered a horizontal right slash, that passimian was barely able to avoid by jumping over it. Wrapping its long tail around gallade's foot as it went, the teamwork pokemon tripped its opponent, following up with a flurry of punches.

However, using psychic's fighting resistance, gallade avoided an uppercut from passimian, landing a blow with the flat of its blade square to the teamwork pokemon's face. Taking advantage of the momentary stun, the blade pokemon gathered its energy to its helmet, successfully executing a zen headbutt that blasted passimian away, defeating it.

"Passimian is unable to battle. Genji gains the final point without suffering a knockout. Flawless victory!"

Winston sighed, adjusting his glasses. "I suppose there always is more to discover, about each other and about our partners. Well played, Genji."

"It was a good, fair battle. Thank you, old friend."

Winston walked over to the terrain generator. Deactivating the formation switch, the half-destroyed chasm dissolved to dust, swirling back into drainage units on the floor of the arena. In a matter of seconds, the arena had returned to an open sphere with a clear, unscratched glass floor, as though it had not been used at all.

The spectators gazed in amazement, bursting into cheer as the two Overwatch operatives left the arena. From his seat, Gabriel smiled and shook his head.

"That monkey's still got a lot to learn."

 **Author's note: It's Fyre again guys, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Looks like work's been piling up non-stop, had to pull out quite some time and effort to write this one.**

 **Some of you may notice that the usual 'private scene at night' isn't here in this chapter, but don't worry, I'll publish that in the next one. The battles are about a third through (oh no!) so I guess I should develop a bit more on the plot at this point. Until then, see ya!**


	8. Improvements

**Improvements**

 _Email sent_

Winston cleared his examination apparatus, and returned the megalith to its shipping container. Having finished with a report on the energy signatures within the slab of rock, the hyperintelligent gorilla swiped across his screen, bringing up an email from the UN, forwarded from Jack.

"Sigh… Looks like I'll have to make improvements to the flux capacitor again. What was it, a terajoule limit? Let me check."

Winston released metagross from its pokeball, mega evolving the iron leg pokemon. Attaching a cable to a port in the iron leg pokemon's back, and another to the astral projector's removed core, a sine curve appeared on one of Winston's monitors.

"Alright metagross, this may be a stretch, but I want you to hit a hundred megajoules of psionic energy. Think you can do that for me?"

Metagross shut its eyes, pumping its psychic energy through the cable. Winston activated a x10 amplifier, and the astral projector core began to heat up. Taking his measurements, Winston turned off the amplifier, before unplugging metagross from the projector.

"Winstonnnnnn! Got ya favorite!"

The scientist turned to see Lena at the door, bananas in hand as always. The cheery briton blinked into the room, stroking metagross' regenerated arm.

"The thing looks good as new, love! Ain'tcha just a big ol' brute! But don't scare me like that next time, gross! You gave me a heart attack!"

Winston scratched the back of his neck, taking the bananas. Lena blinked once more, this time to the megalith's containment unit.

"Pretty little thing, isn't it, love?" Lena said wondrously, laying a hand above the mega evolution sigil that flashed all over its shining surface. "Ah, if only I could've had another shot at it. Ame's strong, no doubt. What does it do anyway?"

"Well, that is classified information, but I suppose I can trust you to keep it a secret. Commander Morrison and Reyes were the ones who brought the megalith back. They were climbing Mount Coronet during their tour of Sinnoh about a year ago, up on Spear Pillar Reyes found something shiny embedded in one of the pillars. With Morrison, he extracted it and brought it home, and now here it is - the megalith.

"Enough of the backstory. Now, inside of this stone is a large quantity of energy. It's a really peculiar kind of energy that we haven't documented in our world in years past. This energy is responsible for the power surges that bring about mega evolution - yes, that means your key stone and mine were both tailored from this piece of stone itself, and both store a small amount of its energy.

"It's not just that though. If you recall Hanzo's decidueye using sinister arrow raid, that particular move also siphons some of this energy to power it. This kind of energy permeates both our dimension and theirs, but it has a different signature depending on which dimension it flows through. From what I have examined, I located signatures from our world, the pokemon world, and a few other pretty interesting ones.

"There's a dimension where time only exists in one moment, branching out into a billion different possibilities. Another one has the fabric of space completely liquified, allowing travel between two points instantaneously. The last one I've discovered is a world of ever-replicating antimatter, which I believe is the same dimension Talon was trying to access when we raided their base 6 months ago. Though there are quite a few faded and incomplete signatures of other realms as well, what we've found fits pretty well into Sinnoh's legends of creation, if I do say so myself."

"That'd be dialga, palkia and giratina, innit love? Heard that stuff from Mccree after he snooped around in Gabriel's office. Say, dialga's the guardian of time, why don't we drop by and ask if he'd improve my chronal accelerator? Surely he has some temporal database or something?"

"Well, as much as I would like to think that he will disagree, getting to this… temporal dimension would be nigh impossible. The megalith only houses the energy signature of these dimensions, but not a specific gateway to get through to them. Not only that, we'd need Overwatch's old tech, which is unstable, decommissioned and now illegal to use. And even if we do get there, we may end up causing a paradox and getting chased right back out."

"Oh well, then. Looks like whoever wins the tourney's gotta contend with a free mega stone for any pokemon he'd like! None of this transdimensional jibber jabber."

"I suppose so, Lena, but the megalith is powerful in its own right." The scientist glanced at the clock on his computer. "Hmm, lights out in half an hour. You'd best get going, Lena. It's been a pleasure talking."

"Aww, you're welcome big guy. See ya tomorrow!"

The Briton blinked out of the room, her chronal accelerator dimming a little as she did. Winston took notice, entertaining the thought of exploring other peculiar dimensions, and using their traits to further help mankind, just as the pokemon world did.

Soon, the lights went off. An invisible woman stepped from the shadows, taking hold of Winston's astral projector core. A rotom appeared behind her, laying one of its tendrils on the projector, and another on Winston's computer.

"Careful, now, amigo. Leave no trace."

Both units flashed pink as rotom downloaded their databases. The woman projected a string of code, giving it to her pokemon, who promptly installed it into the astral projector.

"Database transfer complete, modifications stabilized. Have a look, Sombra."

With her cybernetic fingers, Sombra produced multiple holographic screens, scanning through information on all of them.

"Heh, still no match for me, Athena. Now let's see... energy signatures, stability issues, link that to the dimensional traces… yes, I think I can work with this. Meanwhile, try not to over-exert that Astral Projector of yours. After all, I've just made some… improvements to it."


End file.
